Learning The Underworld
by Crazy Blonde Bitch
Summary: Kat thought she knew her boss...until she found out that he was hunted by a VAMPIRE of all things, and that he too was a vampire. Now, Shes been taken and doesn't know how she feels any more. She was almost sure that she was falling in love...but now...
1. I Didn't know Him

I didn't know him

""Leave me alone! Let me go!" I'm here, in the dark room. I want to tell you how I got here.

-

"Hey, Josef."

"How are you today, Kat?" Josef didn't look up from his desk, he rarely did.

"I'm as good as I can be at three o'clock in the morning." I didn't know what I was working for, that Josef could be anything other than human.

"I'm sorry about that. I know you only the early shift a week ago, but I'm leaving real early. A friend of mine is stopping by to help me with something."

Just then…"I brought Beth." And right behind the good looking man walked Beth Turner from BuzzWire.

"I used to wait for new stories to air when I worked the graveyard shift. Now, I have to sleep." I remember being so excited. "What story are you working on right now?"

"The disappearances of three women, I suspect the Paranormal." I kind of thought she was crazy then.

"You mean like witches and demons? Isn't that a little childish?" I gave her a look that told her, I hope, that she must be joking.

"Yeah, I guess. But you have to admit, that some things don't seem normal." She seemed undeterred by my judgment, only disappointed.

"Mean that it's a little immature to believe in were-wolves. I'm not saying that meeting a vampire wouldn't be cool, but…to believe that a human can be dead and live at the same time, and that the only way they can be killed is with a wooden stake, silver, or fire?...It's barbaric. Vampires would be human sized leeches…I just can't even think about believing it." They were looking at me as if I had suggested that the fastest way to travel was to walk through walls. "I wrote a paper in collage." Their looks deepened to what they would be if I had walked through a wall myself. I turned to Josef. "You haven't introduced us. Kinda rude, don't you think?"

"Sorry, Mick, Kathleen, Kat, Mick." He seemed disgruntled.

"Nice to meet you, Mick, and Beth." I shook their hands and turned to Josef. "What do you need me to do, boss?" I watched the smile cross his eyes. We both loved when I called him "boss".

"I need you to call around about Jessi. If you get any information, call my cell, immediately."

"What happened to Jessi?" This had worried me to hear.

"She was one of the three women who were taken. Mick is a P.I. We will be searching by foot. You search by net. Call at 7:00 and tell me what you know. See you at noon." And the three of them left me to the phone.

"Hello, this is Kathleen Peppa, with Heart and Time Bonds. I'm calling to inquire about Jessica Ebbs. She has not called in and is missing from work. If you have any information about Ms. Ebbs, please call me back at the main offices of Heart and Time Bonds. Thank you."

I hate answering machines.

I had been at it for three hours straight. Checking the internet and calling contacts. I couldn't get anything. I knew Josef would be disappointed not to have anything by seven. So I kept at it. At seven, I tried one more contact before calling Josef.

"_Hello?"_

"Hello, this is Kathleen Peppa of Heart and Time Bonds. I am seeking information on a missing employee."

"_Heart and time?"_

"Yes."

"_And the name of the employee?"_

"Jessica Ebbs."

"_How long has she been missing from your establishment?"_

"Two days."

"_I am sorry, I cannot help you."_

"May I inquire to the reason of why not?"

"_She could be lying sick. Not enough time has passed. My advice to you is to kill the vampire you work for." _And he hung up. I marked down the number and name I had just called as a _call back later_, and called Josef.

"_Kat, what have you got?" _He was eager.

"Nothing. But I just got off the phone with a very crazy man." I was doodling and trying to stay positive.

"_Crazy?" _Josef was a little iffy on vagarity.

"Before he hung up on me he said, and I quote, '_My advice to you is to kill the vampire you work for.'_ Has the whole world gone Vamp crazy?"

"_What was the name?"_ He had been on edge again. Looking back, I think he thought I was considering it.

"Weston Birchmier." I gave him the number as well.

"_Meet me at Mick's office as soon as you can. I want to go over everything."_ He had sounded a little worried at the time, but now I think he was panicking.

"Before noon?"

"_Yes. Right now if you can."_

"I'll be right there." He gave me the address and the conversation was over. I grabbed my keys and left Kyle in charge.

Beth and I ate breakfast together while Josef and Mick poured themselves over paper.

"Why don't you two give it a rest and eat something."

"Not hungry." They had both said it like it was a normal occurrence for them to lie to skip a meal.

"Mick, you have to remember to eat sometimes." Beth, her and Mick had such chemistry. I wonder if they saw it.

"Beth, please." They sounded like they had been dating for a year or two.

"How long have you two been together?" I couldn't believe I had asked so bluntly. Josef smiled at me, Beth and Mick looked at me with shock on their faces. "Sorry, you two seem like you've been dating. I was wrong to assume." Josef saw it too, I could tell.

In the end, Mick picked up a piece of toast and worked while he ate.

It wasn't until noon when things started to move. Like pieces of a puzzle, things fell into place. People who weren't connected before were connecting other people. Places connected and times.

As we put the pieces together in our little web, it became obvious that everything led to one of three things. Heart and Time, a woman named Corraline, and Weston Birchmire.

I had only one question.

"Who is Corraline?"

"My wife." I was more than a little surprised to hear that Mick had a wife. I was completely amazed when the door suddenly flew off the hinges.

The man standing in the doorway of wreckage spoke with venom soaking every word. "I thought I told you to kill him."

"Weston Birchmire?" I was shaking, I was terrified, yet I was excited.

"No, Lance." His eye flashed white while the other remained black. I had thought at the time that it was a trick of the light. "I killed Birchmire, tree months ago." His grin was what caused me to fall to my knees. He had fangs…

My breath caught in my chest…trying to choke me.

"Vampire freak." A tear had fallen as mi choked. I had that he was a vamp-extremist. I felt like the world had gone insane. I still feel that way. Vamp-crazy.

"Drop the freak and your right." Josef had stepped beside me.

"Why are you here?" his voice was different, talking through his teeth.

"I wanted her to kill you. Since she didn't do as I said, I will have to do it." He was no longer at the door. He was standing in frount of me, he was so close. I could have touched him. And he didn't even move. He was just there.

It had started to hit home. This man, no matter how hard it was for me to admit to myself, was a vampire. And he wanted Josef dead. At that moment of realization, my mind started to move a million miles an hour. At that speed, everything else seemed to be in slow motion. Even vampire superhuman speed.

He took one step toward Josef and I lunged. The adrenaline launched my system into overdrive. I caught the vampire by surprise when I slammed into him. I didn't know I could move so fast.

I had the vampire in my arms and I drove him away from Josef, but I didn't know I was coming upon the wall so fast. When we hit, it sent me off balance enough for him to grab me. I became his hostage. Facing Josef, the vampire taunted us both.

"Look what you did." His laugh aged my bones. "Now, I'll have to kill you." I looked up at Josef. He had this look of amazement on his face, but when he looked up from me, his face became cold.

"Let her go." He spoke though his teeth, holding something back.

"Now, why would I do that?" I could feel the venom of his voice on my skin. "She smells amazing." I felt something slide across the skin of my neck, his breath was cold.

"Don't you dare!" Josef's eyes flashed white and he bore fangs at us. I screamed and nearly turned toward my captor. I think his face creased for a split second. "if you touch your fang to her again, I'll tear your throat out."

"Make any move toward me, and I'll tear out hers." His laughter gone. "I'm taking her with me. If you ever want to see her alive, you'll do as I say." He turned my face to his. "Same goes for you. Now take one last look." He let my face go.

At the time, I wondered what was hurting me when I looked at Josef and saw all of his hatred focused in my direction…

Now, I know it was my heart dieing."

Kathleen finally turned to the person she told her story to. Through the shadow, she saw that she spoke to a woman form a picture she had seen in Mick's office….Corraline.


	2. The Older the Love, The Stronger

The older the love, the stronger.

"I have to get her back." Josef Kostan gripped Mick St. Johns shoulders. Fangs bare and eyes still feral white. "I can't lose her too."

Beth placed her hand on his arm gently. She spoke quietly and with tears in her eyes. "You love her." He knew it wasn't a question. He dropped his head. Beth ducked under the arm beneath her hand, placing herself between him and Mick, and lifted his head to see his eyes. They were a human shade of brown, clouded in tears. Throwing her arms around his neck, she hugged Josef as tight as her human arms could hold.

Josef pulled his hands off Mick and wrapped his arms around Beth carefully, and buried his face in her neck where his tears left him and hers on him. Mick stood back in astonishment, bruises already forming under his shirt.

"Did you see the way she looked at me?" Mick saw it. Disgust, fear, deafening heartbreak. Beth had looked at him that way when he refused to save Josh by turning him. "The way she turned from me?"

"She didn't mean it." Beth told him, lifting his face to look at her. "Trust me; she didn't know...she couldn't have meant it."

"How could you know, Beth?" Josef fell to a chair.

"Because, Josef. I know what it's like to fear and love what I fear. She can't know what she's feeling, because...because she has never felt it." Josef and Mick stared at her in open shock. Her eyes flicked for a second to Mick, and Josef knew exactly what she was trying to tell him.

"Thank you, Beth." His face became full of pain. "This is wrong."

"Yes, the way she was pulled into our world was wrong." Mick sat with him.

"No, not that. I love Sarah. But now I'm falling for Kat."

"Sarah Whitley?" Beth sat on the desk. "Josef, I'm sure Sarah, if she knew how you felt, what you're going through, would tell you its okay. If she loved you as much as the journal said, she'd want you to be happy, even if it can't be with her."

"Beth, I know you're trying to help. But, humans and vampires can't be together. Bad things happen. Things go wrong."

"Get your mind off of that for a moment." Mick had to stop this talk of emotions. He knew that it would somehow come back to him. "First thing we have to do is find where Lance is holding her."

"Wait, who else is missing? Lance might be involved in everything." Beth mused over this as she spoke.

"Corraline, Jessica, Kat, and..." Mick met Beth's eyes. "...and Sarah. I think I know what everything leads to."

"What?" Beth could be so dense.

"Me." Josef was calm, cool, and all but collected. "I knew Corraline before Mick, Lance is her brother. Jessica and Kathleen both work for me at Heart and Time. And Sarah."

"Oh, Josef." Beth jumped forward to hug him again

"You're Corraline!" Kathleen nearly screeched. "Mick will be so happy to hear you're safe!" She took a crawling step toward her.

"No!" Corraline stopped her with an up raised hand. "Don't come any closer. It's not safe."

"What do you mean?"

"If I hurt you, Josef will never forgive me. Neither would Mick. So just stay over there." Corraline flashed her frosted eyes at Kat. "But Lance was right." Fangs poked out as she spoke. "You smell good, even from over here."

Kat scooted back again. "You're a vampire too?"

"Yes." Corraline flinched in pain.

"Are you alright?

"Lance, my brother, has starved me. I have wronged him and now he tortures me...with you."

Kat thought for a moment. The only thing was that when Kat thought very deeply (as she did now) she did so out loud. "Could a feral vampire feed from a human without killing it? Or would it lose control? The smell of blood must be intoxicating. What worse...the taste of it after starvation." Kat looked up to find Corraline smiling, not cruelly as Lance had. "What?"

"Yes, a feral vampire could feed without killing, and it is possible to lose control, and no I wont risk you so put it out of your head."

"But..." Her voice was a little louder than she had wished to have started, she tried again. "But, if you go completely feral, you might just kill me anyway without knowing what you're doing." Corraline was amazed that this human, whom had only just been dragged into the shadow, would be so casually talking about vampire feed and her own death. "So, with that, Corraline, I offer my brachial artery to you, as a friend." Kat held out her arm out to her, presenting the strong pulse in her left bicep. "When I start to feel faint, I'll give you a good thwack in ye'r skull." A grin spread across both their faces.

"So technical, how would I refuse?"

"Don't. Just allow me to hit you." They laughed before Corraline took her blood into herself and became replenished.

Kat awoke with her head in Corraline's lap. "what happened?"

"You fainted. For a second there, I thought I had killed you. Then I heard your heart beating." Corraline smiled down at her.

"So. I'm alive. Are you stable?" She nodded. "Next time, we'll have to do it before you get feral."

"I thank you, but I won't do it again."

"we don't know how long we'll be here. You could be here for several hundred years."

"Let's not talk about that now. We'll talk about later, later."

Josef begun throwing heavy things around the room an hour ago. The couch almost made it out the window. Beth had inched herself out of the room and to Mick's apartment, per his instructions, she locked the door.

"Josef! You need to calm down." Mick ducked under his flying desk, aimed by Josef for his head.

Beth stuck her head out the door to listen.

"Turn me back." Beth gasped, Josef halted in throwing the desk chairs. "I'll help you get Sarah and Kat."

"But...what about your humanity? What about Beth?" Josef had heard her...Mick couldn't have.

"I know you would do the same for me if it was Beth. We're vampires Josef. It is our duty and priveledge to protect the ones we love when they can't help themselves. You love them both, Kat and Sarah. You cannot face Lance alone, and I'm useless as a human."

Both man and vampire had tears in their eyes.

"You love me?" Mick turned quickly, Beth stood in the damaged doorway. "is that what you're saying?"

"Yes."

She stepped toward him. "say it." She climbed over the desk, not wasting time with going around, to get to him.

She was within arms reach of him when Josef saw her tears.

"I love you." She tackled him with a crushing kiss.

"I love you, Mick." She said before crushing her lips to his again. And another kiss, softer, shorter. Mick lowered her to her own feet. "Now let's help Josef." She took his hand and turned to the vampire. "Turn him, I'll feed him, then we can go."

"We?" Mick looked at her with wide eyes. "you're staying here."

"The hell I am." She yelled at him. "If you haven't been paying attention, let me fill you in." she poked him in the chest. "the second Kat was taken, Josef was an emotional wreak. I, not you, was the one to bring comfort to him. You tried, I was successive. I am willing to give you up to help him, because the two of you are adamant that vampires and humans can't be together."

"What are you saying?" Mick looked hurt.

"She means that we, her and I, are connected, closely." Beth motioned with a flat hand that Josef had caught her point. "She's safer with us. Lance will come for Beth next. Better she's with us when we face him than for her to face him alone."

Her index finger was suddenly in Mick's face. "I told you." Her voice broke. "I love you. I'm coming with you. I'd die with you."


	3. Water and Ice

Kat thought Corraline was asleep, so she started to sing:

_**Let the blood flow,**_

_**Slowly,**_

_**let the tears soak,**_

_**If only,**_

_**I could see you again.**_

**_-_**

_**I don't know how to live without your voice.**_

**_-_**

_**I am so lonely,**_

_**My heart is so broken.**_

**_-_**

_**I miss your face,**_

_**So close to mine,**_

_**My heart is broken,**_

_**Broken in time.**_

**_-_**

_**I don't know how to sleep without you near me.**_

**_-_**

_**I am so Lonely,**_

_**My heart is so broken.**_

**_-_**

_**Broken in time,**_

_**No reason or rhyme,**_

_**To my pain.**_

**_-_**

_**i don't know how to eat without you to feed me.**_

**_-_**

_**I am so Lonely,**_

_**My heart is so broken.**_

**_-_**

_**Broken in time,**_

_**No reason or rhyme,**_

_**To my pain!..**_

**_-_**

_**Broken in time!**_

_**No reason or rhyme!**_

_**...**_

_**...**_

_**To my pain...**_

By the movement of her voice, Corraline knew Kathleen was singing out of pain, out of love.

"Did you write it yourself?" Kat jumped. "Sorry."

"I thought you were asleep." Kat crawled over to her. "yea, I wrote it. i just hope I'll be able to remember it without pen and paper."

"You love Josef, don't you?"

Kat didn't answer. She only cried. Corraline pulled her into her arms, holding the younger..._much_ younger...woman.

"Yes. i love him." Kat finally spoke. "I don't think he knows it." she paused. "I don't understand it!"

"What?" Corraline pulled away to look at her.

"I still love him...after the way he looked at me." her tears fell again.

"He wasn't looking at you. not that way, he has always hated my brother." she held her again.

"He scared me." She whispered. "I was afraid for my life, and not from Lance."

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Mick had insisted on a last human meal before turning back. He sat at the table with Beth. Their first sit down 'date'.

When the feast was over, they went into Mick's office where Josef had prepared the desk for Mick's death bed. Beth held his hand as Josef drained him and gave his own. She held him as his dead body healed and came back.

and the test came...

Beth presented her neck, knowing the carotid artery was wider. She trusted him...the test was, did he trust himself...

Gingerly, mick sank his fangs into her flech. he drank with fasted thirst. he began to hate himself as her breath came rapid, her pulse raced. She wrapped her arms around him, feeling his self loathing. she was weakening.

"I love you." she whispered as her eyes flitted closed.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Kathleen cried herself to sleep. Corraline paced. Kat had been there for three days, and Lance had given her nothing. and the rule of threes states _3weeks without food_, _3days without water, 3minutes without air. _and Kat was near four days without water.

"Lance." she spoke as if he was standing in front of her. "She is human. she needs food, and water to live. Please, brother, send dowm water." she waited. "She is dieing!" Kat stirred, but didn't wake.

"Alright, Sister." his voice entered the room with the air of a joke. "I'll give her water."

Corraline knew he had trouble for them. She had only reached Kat's side as the water fell on them.

"Wha..What's going on?" Kat was groggy and slow. it was not a good sign.

"Lance is trying to drown you."

"how could..." Kat looked around and then up. "we're in a well?" Corraline nodded. "too high for you to get out?"

"Yes." their feet were now under water. Kat tasted the water, it was fresh. gulping handfuls, she felt hungry. The water level quickly rose to her hips.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lance made it especially hard to find him. he left his scent on every inch of the city, dropping strands of Kat's hair in his wake.

"It's been three days!" Josef shouted. he knew Lance wouldn't give Kat what she needed to survive, so he wouldn't, couldn't, eat until she was returned. He wouldn't sleep. "We need to find her!" in his feral state, Mick didn't trust is judgment, and hid Beth behind him.

"We will." Mick assured him.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I can't--" Kat slipped into the water, now far above her head in only a couple hours. she clawed her way back to where Corraline could pull her back up. "I can't hold on. My hands are cramping." Corraling wrapped an arm around Kathleen's waist.

"I've got you." She dragged her up as the water level rose.

"I'm going to die, Corri." her tears were hidden in the water.

"No, you're not. I've got you." Corraline brushed aside the nickname her mother used to call her. "don't drink the water anymore, it's full of salt."

"I know, it's drying me out." she hiccuped. "I'll never be able to tell him--" hicc "--I'll never be able to tell--" hicc "--tell him that--" hicc "--that i love him." her pleading eyes met Corraline's. Hicc "--Please." hicc "Please, tell him." hicc

"He knows, I'm sure"

"He--" hicc "--needs to know--" hicc "--it from me." hicc "Please, Corri." hicc "Please tell him." hicc.

"Calm down, I will. But you'll be able to tell him yourself when i get you out of here." it was suddenly quiet...

"the water stopped.."

they looked up and down came the ice in 12 inch blocks. Corraline covered Kat with her own body. "Deep breath!!" and they were diving down. Corraline didn't need the air, but Kat would. She didn't know how long Lance was going to pelt them with neck breaking ice blocks.

when Kat started clawing for the surface, Corraline locked her lips with Kat's and gave her air. Motioning for Kat to stay down, Corraline swam for the surface.

Dodging hail, she lilled her lungs for Kat...

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Mick had locked Josef in a freezer, forcing him to sleep.

"He'll be alright."Beth curled up to him. "His heart is just breaking." Her own tears fell.

Mick hugged her tighter to his side. we'll find her, soon." Beth fell asleep praying he was right...

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hey, guys i know you love my story I just really like to hear it. It boosts me up and pumps ideas in to my head so i can write more. so Read and Reveiw.

ps. those first three chapters i had pre writen so give me some time for the fourth

Disclaimer: i don't own Moonlight


	4. Listen part one

sorry it took me so long, got writers block and a computer virus....hope you like it.

Disclaimer: i don't own Moonlight

__

Beth awoke to find Mick pouring blood down Josef's throat. He was attenpting to fight Mick off, but the newly reborn vampire wasn't letting up. "Josef." Her voice was full of sleep as they both looked at her. "Kathleen has just learned that vampires exist. More over, she has just learned that _you_ are one. Do you really want her to see you starving yourself into a feral state?" she sat up. "because that's what you'll do." after a second of contimplation, Josef was feeding himself.

"Beth, the only reason you found out i was a vampire was _because_ you saw me feral." Mick had a question in mind.

"Yes. And i am still traumatized. scared for life, I tell ya." she smiled. the blood gone they were searching again.

After three hours, Josef's cell phone started to ring.

"Josef Konstan."

_"Ah, Josef. How are you doing?"_

"Lance." Josef hissed as Mick growled. "Where is Kathleen?"

_"Oh, She's chilling out. But enough of that, there is something you must do---"_

"I want to hear her!"

_"Tisk tisk. I'll feed her if you listen. Now DO AS I SAY!"_

"I'm listening." and so was Mick.

_"Goooood, now do so very closely..."_

_----------------------------------------_

--

i am sooooo sorry guys, i lost my rough copy.... will post more as soon as i find it.


	5. Listen part two

OMG!!!!! I FOUND IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the continuance...

--

The ice had been falling almost four hours, and Kat's body was feeling the cold. her eyes told stories to Corraline ending in Kat's death. Her heart was slowing as the ice ceased to slap the water. It had stopped. Kat made the decision to swim up. Corraline followed closely. the ice had frozen itself into a sheet, and she had kept a section clear. Lifting Kat through, onto the thick ice, Corraline followed.

Hope filled her eyes again. But Corraline wasn't as optomistic. Her doubt only doubled when Lance's voice echoed down the well.

"Eat up, you'll need your strength." the laughter never left his voice anymore.

Kat sighed with a smile that faded a fraction as live fish dropped in place of the ice. Soft thuds as the poor fish were pitched, alive, down the well and onto the ice. Corraline grasped a fish in an instant. "Eat" she nearly yelled as she held the fish out for Kat to take. Kat's smile became renewed with life as she placed a hand on top of the sea dweller.

"You first, Each fish has a little blood to them." the fish were dropping as often as the ice once had. they were salt water fish and so Kat started to push them toward the hole in the ice as Corraline drank.

"eat." Kat tore into the white flesh of the fish as Corraline drank from another...and they kept falling.

--

Josef and Mick had destroyed the entire building of Heart and Time Bonds, just as Lance had ordered.

"It's done."

_"send a photo."_

he did.

_"1-788-271-1028."_

the signal died

--

"Do you hear that?" Kat watched as Corraline closed her eyes to listen. in seconds she had dropped the half dead fish and was searching the ice for the source of the noise. breaking on of the loose blocks, she found a plastic bag with a pre-paid cell phone that was ringing.

"Hello?"

_"Corraline?"_

"Josef?"

_"Is Kat...?"_

She could hear the love and worry in his words.

"Josef?" Kat let her tears fall as she waited for him to answer.

_"Kat...Are you hurt?"_

"Almost drown. Almost starved. but I'm fine...now."

_"Good...did you say drown?"_

his confusion made her laugh. "yea, we are in an under ground well. He filled it with water, and dropped ice on us. but we're fine now."

_"A well? With Corraline...Has she hurt you?"_

"I gave her my blood, she was feral and losing control. but now we have fish." a shiver traveled down her spine.

_"Fish?"_

"yes...How long till you find us, by the way?"

_"Mick and I are working on it."_

"Good...my signal is fading."

"Time's up!" Lance laughed down at her.

"he's shutting it down,I think I have time to say one thing." she smiled at Corraline. "I Love You."

and the signal died.

--

"Kat? KAT??" The last thing he had heard was the word "I". "She's gone..." he turned to Mick and Beth. "She's gone."

"What did she say?" Mick asked, for Beth's benefit.

"What did she sound like?" Beth asked for herself.

"They're in a well...filled with water...and ice." Josef fell into the rubble that was once his office. "She was shivering...and slow...she's hypothermic...and her heart...her heart is slowing. We have to find her!"

"We will. Now think." Beth sat next to him. "where would we find a well deep enough that Corraline couldn't get out?"

"Private, old." Mick mussed. "Country towns."

"The old Nosferotu place." Both Mick and Josef froze as only Vampires can.

"Nosferotu?" Beth was confused.

"Dirty Blood Vampire Coven." They said in unison and it was Beth's turn to be still.

--

"I could die happy." Kat held the phone to her breast. Corraline couldn't tell her that Josef didn't hear her confession. "I feel so much stronger Corri." She said taking her meal from the Vampire.

"That's good." Two hundred years had made her a very accompliched liar. she knew that Kat was getting weaker. "Make sure to eat all parts of the fish. Don't make that face, the liver will warm you."

"Ew." she made the face once more as she ate the innards, egg sacks and all.

As she ate Corraline could hear her body suffering. she needed to find a way to warm her up... "Kat, where is that phone?"

"the signal is dead." pulling it out of her pocket, she handed it to Corraline.

"I know, I just want to try something." She opened the phone's contact list. there was only one name..._Brother_. Stepping further away from Kat and pressed send...it rang once.

_"Hello, sister."_

"She is freezing to death, brother." She spoke below human hearing level.

_"What do you want me to do about it?"_ he was still laughing at them.

"Throw down a coat for her, a snowsuit...something." She hissed.

_"Aw, are you starting to care for the human? Why don't you turn her Vampire." _He barked out another laugh.

"Brother, Josef will not let either of us live if you force that." She struggled to stay quiet. "The longer you keep her alive, The longer you can play your damn game."

_"You make a good point."_ He sat thinking for a moment. _"Call again when she turns blue."_ and he was gone.

"Damn him."

--

"I'm not leaving your side, Mick!" Beth shouted for the hundredth time.

"I'm not letting you enter Nosferatu Domain. Dirty Blood is Dirty Blood, and i will not subject you to that. Not in your state." He pushed her to sit.

"And what 'state' is that? California?" They had been at this for hours and Josef was getting worse.

"HUMAN!" This was the last straw.

"FINE! THEN VAMP ME UP!" Both men were taken aback at this. neither could say a word, so Beth continued more softly. Standing, she took Mick's hand and placed it on her neck...over her pulse. "It beats for you."

"Than it should _keep_ beating."

"Don't you see? If you leave me behind, and you die, it will stop anyway. It would be better to have it stop with you than without you." The tears that had been swelling rapidly as she spoke fell down her cheeks. Mick couldn't speak, he only took her into his arms...never wanting to let her go.


End file.
